Perhaps it’s the half-unearthed layers of the Niagara Escarpment dividing Hamilton, ON that makes outsider noise sedimentary to the landscape of sounds resonating from this city. Scott Johnson has not only been part of that landscape for more than a decade but also a major catalyst in the city’s noise and experimental scene through his involvement in projects such as Fossils, Bottom Feeder, Gasoline Gathers Hands Gathers Friends, Misner Space and his solo guise, Thoughts on Air.

Although Hunting Rituals is another one of Johnson’s solo incarnations, Brooding Forest emerged out of a Sonic Unyon basement jam with Jeremiah Buchan of Fossils/Bottom Feeder, who provided the kaleidoscopic cover art for the LP released on Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace imprint. The album was originally put out as a c20 on Myiasis Tapes in 2008, limited to 30 copies. After giving the tape a positive review in his Bull Tongue column for Arthur Magazine, Moore decided the primitive and feral textured drones deserved wider exposure on vinyl.

Living up to its title, Brooding Forest aurally evokes the spirits dwelling deep inside the black woods. A dull throbbing, layered beneath the tangled roots, scum and brass howls, sets the tone for the A-side. The recording then transitions to the frantic and ominous squeals emanating from within, building a dense and almost horrifying sense of unease as scalding noise surrounds. On the B-side, things get drawn out even more with stirring horn squeals that echo like a smoky, surreal drug dream over washes of drone. The tension builds towards the final phase of the journey inside the beating heart of the forest where the ancient beast lays, groaning and chanting like a nightmare you can’t escape. Despite its maddening abuse on the senses, this recording provides cathartic pleasure and serves to illustrate just part of the range and diversity that the duo (and especially Johnson) is capable of.